Ok, so I went back and started cutting at 8am, and brought home another load of red oak,cherry, and mystery standing dead, that's as dry as a bag of dirt.. I wish it wasn't gonna snow 2' or I'd hit it again. This may have been my last shot, can't get in there with that much snow.
Then we lit the dragon and made a few pizzas!! This one was a buffalo chicken , added the blue cheese on top after it cooked.
Ran back to the honey hole and started cutting the trunk of the red oak, it was 22" and my saw is small with a 16" bar. But it actually did pretty well. This is my 4th load outta this place..these freakin rounds were heavy man..
There is nothing wrong with cutting a 22" log with a 16" bar. Actually it is about ideal. We cut up to 30" or a tad more with a 16" bar and have done so for years.
While cleaning up the saws today I threw a 14" bar and chain on the 025 just for grins. That thing cut like an animal with the short bar, wow! I don't know if I'd want to be cutting 26"+ logs with it all day but it was fun.
Wow, I thought I was underpowered, but i guess as long as you could get through the log, it'll be ok. It's good because there is a 20' long standing oak log that's around 30" , maybe I'll try and take that too! Those rounds get heavy though.. I need to rig up a chain hoist on my pickup to get um in.
We have cut up to 32" with a 16" bar. Once you get the hang of it, there's nothing to it. Believe it or not, I cut a 22" red oak using a little Stihl 180 with 16" bar. It may not have been so good except it has a narrow kerf cut and that little saw just makes me laugh. I never dreamed it could be so good.
My saw is only a 009L, I just changed out the 14" factory bar with the 16" and a new chain, I probably cut 2 cord with it already, and it performs really well, although it's really the only saw I've ever used, so I have nothing to compare it to.
Ive been thinking about just making one that goes into the trailer hitch receiver, I have a small chain hoist I could hook up to it.
For many years I cut only with a Stihl 290. We just got the 180 for cutting limbs but I find myself grabbing it more and more. I also remember a couple years after we had some tough luck, all I could afford for a saw was a little one I picked up at an auction sale. It was slow going but it got us along until we got the finances back in order to get a better saw.
My very first saw was an 009 that I bought from a scrapper when I was in HS. I ran that thing for a number of years until it leaned out and scored the cylinder. A few years later I found myself working at an Implement dealer that also sold Stihl's! I bought my 044 and an 009 to go with it just because I liked the old one I had so much. Now this poor 009 is in pieces in a bucket and it's been so long I don't remember why
Nope, I found an old shovel to push them away from the main log, then I just rolled them towards the truck, problem is there was 3 " of wet snow on the ground , and the bark was picking it all up, like rolling a snowball for a snowman! When I got them to the tailgate, I left one laying flat and had to get each one on top of the flat one, then bear hug it with my knees under it and hump it in. I'M building a hoist, just need some materials.theres a lot of big logs there that I need to get.
A peavey/cant dog is useful rolling the logs before you cut through. Once cut into rounds you need a pickaroon. You can use it to roll the rounds along without having to actually touch the snowballs with your hands. And you can often use one to pull up the rounds that fall over onto their face so they can be rolled.
Went back and got some even bigger rounds.. Around 26-28" , rigged a chain hoist in a tree to get them in the truck. There's still a 30' long log standing there that needs to go, that's my next run.
Someone probably already mentioned this but you could noodle them to reduce the weight if needed. I've quartered rounds that size before so that I could get them loaded.
